The View from the Classroom

Got my changes on the diet and workouts yesterday from my trainer…yep…increased cardio  and slightly lower calories. Just what I was expecting 4 weeks out.

So…had to do a second cardio session last night to bring yesterday’s total to 1 hour and did 45 minutes fasted cardio on the elliptical this morning…I think I’ve done more cardio in the last week than I did in the prior 3 months!!!

I’m wondering how everyone else does HIIT for a whole hour…45 minutes of it totally kicked my ass.  After a 5 minute warm-up, I alternated 2 minutes low intensity (heart rate about 120) and 2 minutes high intensity (heart rate in the 150-160 range) and then did a 5 minute cool-down at the end.  Any ideas on how else to do it would be welcome.

Will do some walking lunges (trainer says I need to do these EVERY day, but I’m totally ok with that) and work chest this pm with hubby.  Can’t wait

When I "got serious" about losing weight, that was it.  That’s all I really wanted to do…get down to a healthy weight where I didn’t feel fat.  But, the snowball effect kind of happened.

I lost weight, started "toning" as some people say and soon found myself at that acceptable weight.  But, I wasn’t totally happy.  I was still "flabby".  So, I started researching, reading, asking questions and through that decided that I needed to hit the weights more.  So I did.  I lost some more weight, but more in the form of body fat rather than a combination of fat and muscle.  Why?  Because along with the weight training, I really changed the diet.  All of the pieces of the puzzle came together.

Meanwhile, my husband…God love him…has gone from standing by and "watching" my transformation to tagging along with me to the gym to being my workout partner to doing more cardio than I ever thought about doing to entering and winning a bench press competition at our gym to nixing the Dr. Pepper habit he has had for many many years to eating chicken (previously despised by him) to switching from 2% milk to skim milk to eating all my almonds and the last avocado and all my sweet potatoes that I spent hours baking and scooping and seasoning with cinnamon just perfectly and all my brown rice prepared in advance for the week.  What’s next?????????  Oh know :0)…HE’LL want to compete….I don’t know if I can handle that!!!!!

I think he’s obsessed…

One month from my first contest and I mailed my entry form yesterday making it official.  No turning back now!!!

Feeling pretty good about everything except for the butt/backs of the legs.  However, after scrutinizing the pics from yesterday, I do think I’ve made progress.  Definitely not ready to share THOSE pics though

In the last two weeks, I’ve increased the cardio and cut the carbs somewhat.  Cardio has been 5 times a week, 30-40 minutes of HIIT, fasted, which is new to me.  Can’t say I love that, but whatever it takes, huh?  Doing 2 of 6 meals with carbs for 4 days and then a refeed day on which I have carbs at 5 of 6 meals.  LOVE the refeed day!!!

Trying to take it easy on the leg workouts with the herniated disc and the pain isn’t quite as bad…still want to be careful though.

Practicing the posing, but still needs work.  Got my tanning products yesterday and think I will give those a try in a week or so…that makes me nervous…just want to get the tan right.

Make-up is bothering me.  I don’t wear a lot on a day-to-day basis so I’m stressing about it a little.  Anyone with tips, PLEASE share. 

Other than that, it’s all good

How many times do you hear people say "Maybe someday I could do THAT." or "One of these days, I’m gonna lose this weight, pay off my bills, make a career change, whatever ‘that’ happens to be" or on this site how many goals say "Compete someday" or how many comments have you gotten that say "I wish I could…"?

Now, I’m not knocking anyone’s goal.  It’s good to have a dream and be working towards something.  In fact, I was one who just a few months ago was saying to myself that I could compete…someday. 

But, I had all these excuses going on in my head… "What would people think of me?  I’m 40!!!! My butt in a bikini?  NEVER!! I’m not near ready.  There’s too much to do to prepare."  Blah, blah, blah…on and on…like most people, I’m good at thinking of excuses for why I CAN’T do something or why I’ll do it someday.

What changed that?

Well for one, I read a blog by Bahamaman that just hit home with me.  It was about the same topic I’m writing about now.  After reading it, I said "That’s me." and at THAT precise moment, I decided to put an end to the thoughts of "someday", I chose a competition and haven’t looked back.

You see, as my physical transformation is occurring, another transformation is going on inside me.  A transformation of my thinking.  Instead of excuses, my internal dialogue now sounds like this…"Why not?  I’m 40!!!!  Who cares what people think!!!!  There may not be a someday!  I need to live life NOW!!!"

Sometimes I feel like I’ve woken up from sleepwalking through my life, dreaming of someday and now, fully awake, I’m living my life, dreaming no more.  Don’t get me wrong, I still have dreams.  What’s different, though, is that those dreams are turning into reality.  One choice at a time.

So I ask you, what’s keeping you in the dreams of someday?  Why not wake-up, stop dreaming and start living?  It’s your choice.

Refeed day today and I just finished my second meal consisting of protein pancakes…1 cup cooked oatmeal with 3 egg whites, a little bit of extra water and 1/2 a scoop of chocolate whey.  Fry them up in a pan coated with cooking spray and top them off with a tablespoon of natty pb…OMG…they are sooooo good…I am loving my carbs today

And…that recipe can be adjusted as needed to fit any carb/protein counts you need in your diet…just try it…it’s WONDERFUL!! 

Have you ever "lost" a piece of clothing that you really love?  Just CAN’T find it and you want to wear it so bad?  Well, I have.  Recently.

I can’t find this one pair of shorts that I just really like and want to wear.  Looked all over, went through the closet, the dresser drawers, asked my daughter if they got put in her room by mistake, even asked my son the same thing.  Nothing.  So, I’m racking my brains and think, maybe, just maybe, I took them to the cleaners.  That MUST be it.  I HATE ironing.  I can totally see me taking them to the cleaners just so I don’t have to iron them.  I’ll check.

I get to the cleaners, tell the clerk my name and she looks.  Nothing.  "Well maybe it’s under hubby’s name" I tell her.  She’s gone a while, but to my excitement, she’s carrying some clothes when she returns.  I don’t see the shorts right off, but instead, see some pants that look way too big to be mine or even my husband’s.  So I look at the label…Dockers…I wear those…yeah, I guess they’re mine.

I hand her my credit card.  She’s taking a while which gives me more time to think about how big those pants looked.  What do I do?  I check the size…

The clerk returns with my receipt and I say to her "These clothes must have been here a while, huh?"  She replies "About this time last year is when they were brought in."  I guess that makes sense I think to myself.

OMG…four pair of pants were in that set I picked up…three size 14 and one size 16…and they WERE mine.  I CAN’T believe it.  I mean, I KNOW I’ve lost a lot of weight, but until I saw those pants and thought "those look awful big to be mine", I didn’t realize how MUCH weight.  And it hasn’t been THAT long.  WOW.

What can I say?  It was an AWESOME feeling that I hope everyone reading this will experience at some point during their journey.  A feeling that everyone CAN experience with consistent, focused choices that move them closer to their goals.

BTW…not that it matters, my goal when I started was to be able to buy size 10’s without even having to try them on.  I mean, I’ve never worn smaller than that in my life.  Today, I wear a size 4 or smaller.  I still pick up 6’s to try on when I’m not feeling like it’s real.  If I can do it, you can too. 

Consistent, focused choices.
 

Ok.  This isn’t for sympathy.  And I surely don’t need a lecture.  Matter of fact, I’m not sure why I’m writing this at all.  I guess I just am not "inspired" enough today to write about anything else.

I’ve had this pain in my left glute and down the leg for awhile now.  Anyone who knows me knows I don’t go to the doctor unless I absolutely have to.  I’m healthy.  Never had anything major wrong with me in my life.  "Suck it up" could be my motto.  And…the pain hasn’t interferred with my cardio (only time it doesn’t really hurt) or even too much of my lifting  so, how bad could it be?

But…the pain has not gone away.  So a few days ago, I call my orthopedic surgeon brother who immediately says "Sounds like you have a herniated disc and you need to come see me (he’s about 2 hours away) and have an MRI done."  He goes on to explain to me treatment options if that is in fact the case and tells me about his personal experience with the exact same problem.  After 4 or 5 months of suffering, he woke up in a Chicago hotel not being able to get out of bed…my reply?  "I have a contest in 5 weeks!  I’ve put too much time and work into this to NOT do it!!"  My brother understands completely (I mean, he’s an orthopedic surgeon, probably KNEW what his problem was and still didn’t do anything about it!).  So yesterday, I go see him.

EXACTLY what he said…herniated disc.  So that’s where I’m at.  He prescribed medication and told me that no surgeon is going to do surgery at this stage (symptoms haven’t gone on long enough).  told me that with this medication and rest, history has shown that a lot of cases clear up and surgery isn’t necessary.  The "doctor" told me that I should lay off lifting, but the "brother" knows that I won’t.

My plan…lay off the lifting…well, at least a little…yesterday was just a cardio day and I did that prior to seeing him.  Today is no cardio and tri’s and bi’s which I worked on Tuesday for some reason so they don’t have to be worked today.  Tomorrow is just cardio.  Sunday, one of two leg days so I can take it off.  After that, I’m lifting, but will take it easy on the legs…no deadlifts, no weighted squats, stuff like that.  Major pain in the a$@, minor bump on the road to my contest

I’ve been doing an enormous amount of deep, soul-searching thinking lately about what REALLY gets me going, what I’m REALLY passionate about, where I want to leave my mark, all that stuff…and I’ve come to the conclusion that I absolutely LOVE where I’m at right now this minute in my life.  I am passionate about bodybuilding and about proper nutrition.  BUT, being the service-oriented Virgo that I am, I have this deeper need to use it for the positive good of future generations.

I see a need…all you have to do is pick up a paper, turn on the radio or watch the news and you hear about climbing obesity rates in today’s youth.  SAD is the only way to describe it.  You also hear about the possiblities of a new "pill" to help treat obesity which is just what the world needs, right?  Another pill to treat symptoms without addressing the real issues…

Anyway…I’m thinking I want to start something…something HUGE…something LIFE CHANGING…something that could affect the health of future generations…BUT WHAT?

My thoughts turn toward education…educating brand spanking new parents about proper nutrition for their children, how not to give into the fast food temptations, how to be good role models for their children, etc….toward educating children on making better choices themselves…toward nutrition in schools because even though there have been improvements in some areas, I continue to think that there are MANY things that could be further improved when it comes to nutrition in schools.

Anyway…this is where I get stuck…HOW do I get started?  WHAT can I, being only one person, do?  And, this is where I need you, fellow bodybuilding, clean-eating enthusiasts…anyone else out there in the land of bodybuilding have any ideas or even thoughts on the subject?  I urge you to share!!!!

And boy what an experience it was!!

Get your minds out of the gutter boys, I’m not talking about THAT…but, please DO read on…

I attended my very first real-life bodybuilding competition today, the NPC Lone Star Classic in Plano, Texas.  Kind of a last minute thing as I just found out about this week.  I wasn’t really sure quite what to expect and I had only planned on staying for an hour or so, however, I was enjoying myself so much that I stayed for almost the entire prejudging start to finish.  HAD to leave because I had only packed one meal and it was getting to be time to eat.  Next time I’ll know better.

The atmosphere was great.  From the moment I walked in, I felt comfortable, even carrying my food with me cause I sure wasn’t the only one! 

The men were AMAZING…told hubby (who is STILL a virgin) it was better than going to a strip club!!!  He got a kick out of that.  And the figure girls, just as awesome in their STUNNING suits.

My purpose for going, though, was to learn, you know, since I got that thing coming up in approximately 6 weeks…and I did learn…how quarter turns work and that posing is sooooo important.  I could definitely tell those that had REALLY practiced from those that hadn’t.  I got to see first hand what I liked and what I didn’t along with why the tan is so important.  Showed me too that I wasn’t too wrong about what I think I need to work on most.  AND…I learned that everyone needs fans in the audience.  I honestly loved it when encouragement or reminders were shouted from the audience to specific competitors by name or even by number.  TOTALLY AWESOME!!

Lastly, I learned that I CAN do this…yes, I have had my doubts, quite often, I might add, but seeing it in person made me really realize that I CAN do it.  For that alone, it was worth the price of admission and a few hours of my time.  

Makes me want to do it again!!   

I am EXACTLY 6 weeks away from my first contest…it seems like the days are dragging by, but I know it will be here before I know it…will I be ready?

That is the question I ask myself EVERY SINGLE DAY…to be able to say "YES", I know that I must continue to work hard in the gym EVERY SINGLE DAY and stay spot on with the diet EVERY SINGLE MEAL.  I must work harder than I’ve ever worked for anything.  I must keep my vision in front of me and stay focused. 

It’s not always easy, but it is what I MUST do so that when the day arrives I will FEEL ready.  Because, bottom line, no matter what anyone else says, I’m not ready unless I feel ready…I won’t feel ready unless I’ve done the work.

Will I be ready?  Hell, yes I’ll be ready…you can count on it!